Hamas wins over hearts and minds

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A row of tall street lights runs down the middle of Beit
Hanoun's main street, and from the top of each one - within sight
of nearby Jewish settlements and Israeli army outposts - flies a
green Hamas flag.

The Islamic militant group wrested control of Gaza's
northernmost town four months ago from Fatah, the once monolithic
faction founded by the late Yasser Arafat.

Building on their movement's superior discipline and its
reputation for charity and honesty, Hamas candidates won 11 of 13
seats. Four months later, those who didn't vote for them are
beginning to change their views.

"Things are much better; we feel the difference," said Abu
Nabil, 60, a lifelong Fatah supporter whose general store is
decorated with photographs of Arafat.

"They started cleaning the streets and paving new streets, and
there are discounts if you pay your water service bills. That's a
good idea, for those who are able to pay."

The last Fatah council was very different. "As people, we didn't
get anything from the previous municipality. They only served their
own families, their clans," Mr Nabil said.

Executive power, even at local level, is a departure for an
organisation which still officially rejects the existence of Israel
and also the Palestinian Authority - under whose auspices the town
councils serve. Responsible for many of the most murderous
terrorist attacks of the past 10 years, Hamas remains an
international pariah. Yet its growing support among Palestinians -
caused by its social activism and plain dealing as much as its
religious agenda and military wing - has tempted moderate Hamas
leaders to move towards the mainstream.

In local elections this year, Fatah won more seats overall but
Hamas took control of more of the larger towns. It has since
decided to contest, for the first time, seats in the Palestinian
parliament.

This prompted the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to
postpone indefinitely elections scheduled for July 17.

Meanwhile, in towns such as Beit Hanoun, Hamas has started
cleaning the streets, introducing school buses and repairing roads
and infrastructure.

The mayor of Beit Hanoun - population 40,000 - is Dr Mohammed
Nazek al-Kafarna, 39, a professor of Arabic at Gaza's Islamic
University.

In his shirt and tie he looks nothing like the clerics and
gunmen normally associated with Hamas. But asked why he sought the
job he says: "I find that serving the people is a way to get closer
to God."

He says his council's first priority is to improve
education.

Despite a long list of projects to repair infrastructure
shattered by repeated Israeli incursions, his biggest boast is
that, by offering rebates, the council has raised enough money from
unpaid service bills to cover its own budget for April and May. The
previous council never paid its way and relied instead on ad hoc
donations from the Arafat coffers.

Dr Kafarna says his Hamas-led council will receive the same
treatment from foreign donors, and even from Israel, as did the
Fatah council before it. At the local level there are signs he may
be right. In areas where it co-ordinates activities with
Palestinian local authorities, Israel has yet to show any sign of a
boycott of Hamas-led councils.